Process parameters in Additive Manufacturing (AM) are key factors in the mechanical performance of 3D-printed parts. In order to study their effect, a three-zone model based on the printing pattern was developed. This modelization distinguished three different zones of the 3D-printed part, namely cover, contour, and inner; each zone was treated as a different material. The cover and contour zones were characterized via uniaxial tensile tests and the inner zones via computational homogenization. The model was then validated by means of bending tests and their corresponding computational simulations. To reduce the number of required characterization experiments, a relationship between the raw and 3D-printed material was established by dimensional analysis. This allowed describing the mechanical properties of the printed part with a reduced set of the most influential non-dimensional relationships. The influence on the performance of the parts of inter-layer adhesion was also addressed in this work via the characterization of samples made of Polycarbonate Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS/PC), a polymeric material well known for its poor adhesion strength. It was concluded that by using this approach, the number of required testing configurations could be reduced by two thirds, which implies considerable cost savings.

This work develops a novel homogenization-based computational strategy for predicting the mechanical properties of Fused Filament Fabricated parts by characterizing the component according to the different printing patterns used. The anisotropic constitutive material models obtained for each printing pattern allows the accurate prediction of the behavior of the entire component.The model is validated against experiments with the samples manufactured according to corresponding printing patterns. Various materials including Polycarbonate/Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene and ULTEM 9085 are tested.The good accuracy of the predictions obtained using present approach indicates that material characterization can be successfully performed in a fully numerical way.

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